Labour candidate axed after vote rigging claim

A Labour candidate has been dropped by the party after complaints that his selection victory was fixed.

The decision is a bitter blow for Robert Evans, declared last week as the candidate for Brent East at a mass meeting which descended into a brawl.

Barrister Yasmin Qureshi, who lost by only two votes, called the result "rigged" and set out to overturn it.

She submitted a forensic three-page dossier claiming that postal votes cast for her had been rejected, wrongly, by local officials loyal to Mr Evans.

Today she was relishing a win against the odds after an investigation by Labour's ruling national executive upheld her complaint.

Ms Qureshi, 40, born in Pakistan, is a civil liberties expert who worked for the United Nations in Kosovo.

She could become Britain's first Asian woman MP if Labour can recapture the north-west London seat, once a stronghold. It was seized by Lib-Dem Sarah Teather at a by-election last year when Mr Evans, a Euro-MP, was the Labour candidate. He appeared certain to be given another chance to fight after his two strongest rivals, both Muslim men, were kept off the shortlist.

Ms Qureshi started off with little local support but emerged as the leading challenger to Mr Evans in a seat where about half the voters are from ethnic minorities.

At an unruly selection meeting last Thursday, marred by pushing and shouting, he beat her by 113 votes to 111 on the final ballot.

After Ms Qure shi appealed, Labour official Margaret Lynch was sent to investigate. She visited the home of a Pakistani family in Willesden Green whose two postal votes for Ms Qureshi had been ruled out of order.

Ms Lynch interviewed the mother and son, both long-time Labour members, through an interpreter. She ruled that they their votes were genuine and should have been counted.

A third postal vote for Ms Qureshi was also found to have been ruled out unfairly. Reinstating the three votes put Ms Qureshi ahead by 114 to 113.

A Labour spokesman said: "Given the close vote at the Brent East selection meeting last Thursday, the national executive was asked to review the process.

"It concluded that Yasmin Qureshi secured the most valid votes on the night, and therefore should be Labour's candidate for Brent East."

Ms Qureshi said she was "delighted" to be the candidate. Mr Evans, in a statement released by Labour officials, said: "I am extremely disappointed not to have won but I believe it is now in everyone's interest to move forward. I am giving my full support to Labour's candidate Yasmin Qureshi."

Labour chairman Ian McCartney said: "We are delighted that despite a closely run election for Brent East, Yasmin Qureshi has become the prospective parliamentary candidate."